Salon Events

What trends are in for 2017? Just ask the stylists at Yellow Strawberry’s boutique salons, who recently heard from top hairstylists from New York, Los Angeles and Europe at its annual company conference.

During the all-day Nov. 7 conference, more than 60 Yellow Strawberry stylists saw demonstrations and learned from some of the best in the hairstyling industry. The inspirational, live how-to visuals with hair models revealed the trends and looks that will appear on the 2017 runways. Eleven local hair models and four professional models were used throughout the day.

“The hairline follows the hemline,” said Richard Weintraub, a master stylist of over 40 years and Yellow Strawberry co-owner. “Inspiration from the 70s is back in full force. Right now, hair trends are leaning that way, too. The inspiration for the 2017 runway is movement with texture, rich colors and an androgynous look with undone done hair.”

Bumble & bumble educator and Los Angeles stylist Christiaan van Breman highlighted the 2017 runway styles while Kérastase stylists showcased beautiful styling that illustrated the freshest trends from around the world on four models. Award-winning Aleksandar Blagojevic from Wella discussed the company’s trend vision for spring/summer 2017 and illustrated the styles on three models.

A-list haircutter, David Kinigson took the floor and focused on the art of hair cutting in a completely different way with three dry cuts on three local hair models for the day, including Leisa Weintraub, the vice president of marketing and the creative director for Neal Communities. A successful salon owner, Kinigson is an international editorial and runway stylist, celebrity hairdresser and a true renaissance artist.

During the Yellow Strawberry’s awards ceremony, 17 stylists received awards for their dedication to the craft.

Ten Yellow Strawberry stylists spent their Sunday and Monday last week at a hands-on Master the Classics session. During the classes, attendees watched and learned classic haircutting and styling techniques that can be applied to the salon and beyond from a master – Damon Footer.

In 1987, Damon started his hairdressing career at Vidal Sassoon in London. Now, he owns Rua Salon and Spa in Los Angeles, Calif. The salon opened in May 2014 with the goal of providing a home for creative-minded people, with a clear focus on effortless, natural, beautiful hair.

“So few salons are educating their staff on the art of hairdressing,” said Damon. “It’s really important because it helps the young stylists refine and craft their skills, understand the trends and provides a huge step up over the competition.”

At Yellow Strawberry, it’s all about creating an experience for the salon’s customers and adding more tools to its stylists’ bag of hairstyling tricks. This class was specifically formatted for the younger stylists with one to four years of experience under their belts.

“I enjoy working with the younger stylists because I can relate to this experience. They are looking for direction and inspiration,” said Damon.

Damon provided that direction through two all-day sessions, which included haircutting demonstrations from Damon with models and consultations with each of the young stylist’s own models. Ten models were used each day to perfect their techniques.

“We want the haircut to stand alone,” said Caroline Behan, co-owner of Yellow Strawberry, to the junior stylists during one of the classes. “We want to create a doable and working haircut for our clients in a precise and consistent manner.”

The trends of today are far different than those 30 years ago. “The hair in the 80s was big,” said Damon. “Over the last 10 years, it’s become more natural. Now, we color hair to look like it hasn’t been colored.”

Model and client Amanda Rose decided to take the plunge and take her hair from a long to short style. Stylist Devon McLaughlin, a stylist at Yellow Strawberry for 1.5 years, helped her make the transition.

“We are seeing stronger shapes coming back in style,” said Caroline. “There is a need for precision and cutting-edge haircutting, and we want our staff confident and educated so when a client comes through our doors they know what they’re doing.”

“It’s all about the clients’ features, including face shape, hair color and texture, and we consider their lifestyle to further accentuate and enhance their desired look. This class helps our younger stylists take their skills to the next level.”

We’ve all done it – you see your favorite celebrity showing off a new do on Instagram, save the photo to your phone and march on down to your hair stylist and say, “I want this.” This can be stressful for most hair stylists since celebrities clearly have access to the best of everything and usually sport very new and trend-setting styles.

“That is precisely why training and making sure our team is on top of the latest trends is so crucial for our brand,” said Yellow Strawberry co-owner Caroline Behan, who has been in the industry for 38 years.

A leader in the salon industry, Yellow Strawberry prides itself on exceeding its clients’ expectations. The salon’s team of 55 highly trained stylists possesses a passion for advancing their knowledge and experience to the benefit the boutique salon’s clients.

“Educating our team is a top priority,” says Richard Weintraub, Yellow Strawberry co-owner and master stylist of over 40 years. “They are continuously training for everything it takes to become an innovative, knowledgeable and creative stylist.

In addition to advanced training in our French hair cutting system, stylists also receive extensive color training from our skilled educators. This in-depth learning environment ensures that all of our guests receive the best possible experience.”

That was the theme at a color-training day at the Bee Ridge salon recently. If not in the industry, you may have had a difficult time understanding some of the conversations taking place as groups of stylists moved in packs from chair to chair carefully diagnosing client volunteers’ hair. “This one needs a base, a lace, and a double glaze,” said Weintraub as he carefully inspected a client’s hair.

The stylists, and even the salon owners, host and attend multiple trainings like this one every year. Yellow Strawberry also participates in many of the world’s leading styling conferences, including the prestigious Intercoiffure in New York City, an invite-only conference for the top 200 salons in the country.

Most recently, at this Wella color class, the new team got to play and try out the brand’s newest – Illumina and Innosense color and pastel color glazes. Illumina is designed for shine and depth and Innosense is specifically designed for sensitive, previously damaged hair. The formula seals the hair and closes the cuticle, providing more shine and creating less damage than other color treatments. The Illumina color collection includes 32 shades of cool tone colors – with no warm or brassy tones.

Pablo, a regional educator certified color expert with Wella, attended the in-house training and consulted with stylists on each client’s needs and desired outcomes. During the training, several clients volunteered as guinea pigs for consultation, coloring and pastel glazing.

This new color ID system used at Yellow Strawberry allows stylists to utilize a state-of-the-art computer program to formulate and calibrate hair color with precision, making each and every touch up exactly the same.

“Color is a very exact and creative science; you have to know when to use an acid base versus an alkaline base on the individual hair type,” says Richard. “Pastel shades are very in right now from pinks and blues to purples, and this line has those shades as well as several glazes that work well when we don’t want a pastel outcome but want to remove brassiness from the hair.”

Some glazes are less permanent and will wash out in 8 – 10 shampoos. Using a pastel glazing can also cancel out old, bad color.

Balayage, a French word meaning to sweep or to paint, is also a popular and artistic new trend in color that Yellow Strawberry stylists have mastered. The freehand technique requires highlights to be hand painted onto the hair because no foil or meche are used to create the highlights. The method allows for a sun-kissed natural looking hair color with softer, less noticeable regrowth lines.

“With color, we don’t want you to just look good when you walk out the door, we want you to look good in four or six weeks,” says Richard. “We customize our color. If you’re a four-week color client, we treat that differently than a six-week color client.”

Earlier this month, a group of 24 Yellow Strawberry stylists attended five days of Sassoon training classes in Miami on the French hair cutting system and precision cutting.

“Our stylists are learning to be more dynamic,” says Caroline. “We want them to know how to keep up with the trends to accommodate our clients and stay ahead of the game. You have to be really disciplined to create the beautiful shapes of today, and we help our stylists hone their skills and technique.”

It’s that time of year again!

This past week, we held our annual photo shoot over two days with over 20 members of our Yellow Strawberry team. Our stylists provided AMAZING hair and makeup, marking this year our best photo shoot to date! We are very proud and appreciative of all our team members that got creative and showed off their talents. A special thanks to our team: Sarah, George, Liliana, Laurel, Kit, Megan, Christie, Emily, Candy, Victoria, Amber, Britt, Laura, Terry, Becky, Stephanie, Bonnie, Caitie, Andrea, Dina, and Katie. And also we would like to say a BIG thank you to Terra Nova for providing the wardrobe and to Tom Carson for taking such beautiful photographs. We can’t wait to see all of them! In the meantime, here is a sneak peek….!